Antony
AUGOUSTAKIS An Insomniac's Lament: The End of
Poetic Power in Statius' Silvae 5.4
In
Silvae 5.4, the shortest and penultimate poem in
the corpus, Statius complains about the lack of sleep
which has been torturing him for a long period of time.
This unusual poem has been examined by critics for the poet's
mining of epic and elegiac motifs to produce an
innovative hymn to Somnus. The purpose of the present study is
to examine Statius' emphasis on poetic powerlessness by
means of two methods: 1.) inter-(intra-)textual
references to Virgil's Dido, Ovid's exile poetry, and
Amphiaraus, the vates in the poet's own
Thebaid; 2.) the position
of the poem, inserted between two epicedia,
compositions that epitomize the loss of the poet's father
and son (Silvae 5.3 and 5.5). Not only does the author single out
this composition as the penultimate poem of the
collection, but he also indicates the termination of
poetic inspiration to coincide with the end of the
Silvae by means of a lament which Statius usually
ascribes to female figures.
The image of Somnus and his soporific power are loaded
with infernal connotations, while the poet identifies the
god with his own deceased father who, in a manner of
anabasis, is unsuccessfully summoned by Statius.
Crimine quo meruiquove errore: the opening two
lines of Silvae 5.4 allude to Ovid's exile poetry,
when the Augustan poet ponders on his immobilized status
which ensues in his inability to produce (Tristia
2.1.109; 3.5.52; 3.6.26; 3.11.33-34).
At the same time, however, Statius directly recalls the
impasse faced by another vates, Amphiaraus,
because of his unexpected demise. When Amphiaraus is swallowed by the
earth and faces Dis, he proclaims to the king of the dead
that he has not deserved to die (crimine
non ullosic merui de luce
rapi, Thebaid 8.101-2). Thus in the Silvae, Statius'
introduction at once points to his own poetic
powerlessness and lack of inspiration for subsequent
compositions.
In Silvae
5.4, however, there is a twist, because Statius
complains about his insomnia not only as Ovid or
Amphiaraus do about their respective incapability but
also by adopting Dido's persona from Aeneid 4.
The contrast between the poet's lack of sleep and nature's
tranquility (tacet omne pecus, Silvae
5.4.3-6) is borrowed from the parallel scene in the
Aeneid (4.522-32). Statius
as another Dido has succumbed to the power of grief for
losing a beloved person. Only by appropriating a female
stance can the poet bear the immense burden of lament,
properly assigned to women (Silvae 5.3.64-72). This sharply contrasts with the
poet's reaction at the end of the Thebaid
(12.797-809), when Statius, unable to express the grief
of the Argive women, rather chooses to end his epic.
In Silvae 5.4, Statius adopts Dido's voice of unrest in
order to express his discomfort concerning his powerless
poetic status. In
the second half of the poem, however, the poet accepts
his fate: unde ego sufficiam? non
si mihi lumina mille (Silvae 5.4.11). The phraseology recalls Statius'
own claim in Thebaid 12.797, non ego, centena
si quis mea pectora laxet. In the Silvae, his lack of
inspiration corresponds to his inability to bewail his
father's and son's demise and therefore his immediate
abandonment of any further poetic activity.
Finally, the
author identifies the god with his own father,
when in the end of the previous poem he summons his
parent from the Underworld somni in imagine
(Silvae 5.3.289). The loss of Statius' father results
in the poet's bereavement of skills (dedidici,
Silvae 5.3.7). Statius does not attempt a
katabasis, like Aeneas, which would grant him a
visit with his father but rather calls upon his parent to
come up to him through the gate of true dreams (Silvae
5.3.288-89). Nevertheless,
the father's identification with Somnus in 5.4 does not
bode well for the continuation of the poet's pursuits.